Goddimensional
by Sir Novelias
Summary: Set in another dimension, in a more fantasy-themed Gamindustry, Plutia finds herself in trouble and then meets Neptune, who is different from the female counterpart from the Hyperdimension. What starts as a simple encounter turns into a predestined adventure. All rights belong to Compile Heart and Idea Factory, this is just a fan fiction.
1. Chapter 1: The Purple Siblings

The Purple Siblings

Ok, this story is a bit weird but I was going to write a story with the original cast of characters but then I saw this fan art of the four goddesses in gender swap. I thought of it as a bit weird and didn't think much about it. But a while I thought about the fan art and after a while rolling it in my head I got an idea and story. This is the first story I written. I had thought about writing for a while now and this is it.

The morning sunlight was warm but the summer breeze was cool. The summer season had long started already, the birds were chirping their songs and the forest animals were rising from their homes. The leaves on the trees rustle as the wind blew across the nameless land just southwest of Gamindustry where there stood no towns, no cities, just small villages and settlements. A deer was wandering around the forest, finding grass to eat. As it dipped its head to eat its sharp ears heard the sound of footsteps and ran off quickly. Through the forest was a single dirt road which people uses to travel through it. But amidst that forest stood a man-made trail created by a group of bandits. It was just a small group of four walking along the trail they made.

"Where we hiding this time Hogs? Last place was a disappointment." Said a gaunt, rat-face man with greasy hair. He has a pitchfork in his hands.

"The trail that passes through the creek near that meadow. Might have some people passing through today" said Hogs, a well-muscled man with facial hair and long dark brown hair. He carried with him a sword and a knife.

"Better be. I had being bored to the bones just standing and sitting around." said a short but burly man with messy hair and a beard. He carried axe in his hand.

"I hope there won't be any of those monsters wandering around here." said a middle-aged man with black hair, thin nose, moss-green eyes and an ugly mole on his chin. He has a hand-made spear strapped behind his back.

"There hadn't been many lately. Not since that so called monster hunter set up shop near that village." Hogs assured.

The burly man chortled, "Monster hunter? Now who's stupid enough to kill monster for a living? I don't think anyone of those villagers know how to hold a sword properly."

"Neither do we." muttered Hogs

They continued on through the forest. They were near the spot they had planned to stake out; all they had to do was pass through the meadow.

It was a beautiful meadow. Lilies, dandelions, tulips, chrysanthemums and many other types of flowers bloom there. With the bright and warm sunlight streaming down on the meadow, there couldn't be a more beautiful sight. No one except the bandits knew about the meadow.

"Beautiful this place is," said the rat-face man, taking a deep breath, breathing the sweet smell of so many flowers there.

"Nothing here that interests Me." the short and burly man said. "Just flowers and I think with so many around brings a bit too much color for my taste."

"Your taste is like hell, Tolos."

They moved amongst the flowers, stepping on some and scaring some butterflies and bees. The man named Tolos swept the bees away with hand. "Another thing I don't like is that too many flowers attract too many bees."

"You should really appreciate more of old Mother Nature."

Hogs gave out a half-felt laugh, "I never thought you would have a thing for this stuff, Barts."

"And if he does he better just shut up."

"You know what; I don't think you like anything pretty before." The young man with the mole japed.

Tolos glared at him, "There ain't anything pretty about you either especially with that ugly mole of yours, Mole." Mole glared back at him but said nothing back.

They were halfway through the meadow when Mole spotted something. In the middle of the meadow there was a rock and on top of it was a small satchel. Mole called out and point towards the satchel, "You see that? What's that doing there?"

Hogs walked towards the rock and the others followed. When they came unto the rock Hogs grabbed it and open it. Inside there were a canteen half full with water, some clothing that were pink, white, purple and teal, some rations and biscuits, and a sewing kit. "Someone's being here, and must have left and forgotten it."

"I don't think so boss." Bart said. He had walked to the other side of the huge rock was looking down at the something on the ground. He beaconed for them to come over. "You may want to see this."

The bandits walked around the rock and over to where Barts was standing and saw what was he looking at. There, lying down amongst the flowers and sleeping, was a girl.

The girl was pretty cute. She looked to be thirteen or fourteen, with fair skin, long and messy light purple hair which was tied into a braid with pink frill ribbons. She wore pajamas-like dress consist of pink, white, purple and teal. She also wore color stripped thigh high socks and bear slippers. At her side, strapped to her belt was a plushy of bear. She was sound asleep.

The bandits looked in astonishment at the girl sleeping peacefully without a care in the world. "Look at what we found here, some little princess sleeping soundly," Tolos knelt down to have closer look at the girl, "Looks like we found whose satchel that belongs to."

"Why would she be doing here sleeping on the ground like that? Wonder who she is." Mole said, unable to take his eyes off of her.

"Don't know heck. She seems to be travelling alone." Hogs said, holding out the satchel. "Really dangerous to travel alone around these parts especially for someone as young as her."

"You think we should wake her up or something?" Barts asked.

"Not sure." Hogs replied. He looked at the girl's satchel in his hands, "Don't think there's much worth in her stuff here"

"Might as well just take what she had." Tolos said as he rose up. "As for her… What do you think?"

Barts answered, "Maybe we should just leave her be what else."

"Nope, I think we should bring along, after all it could be dangerous for her to be alone." Tolos said.

"No way, we have no business with her I agree with Barts, we should just take her stuff like you said and leave her be." Hogs protested.

"No I agree with Tolos I think we should take her with us," objected Moles, still not taking his eyes off of the sleeping girl. "Funny, we've being talking here and she's just sleeping like that and not even seem to be bothered at all."

Hogs sighed, he had to deal with something like this again; heavy disagreement. "And why would you want to take her along with us?" But whatever their reason is its going to be weird.

"Take me along where?" They all look back at the girl in surprise. She then opened her eyes which were the color of magenta. She was awake. Mole despite not taking his eyes off her was lost in thoughts at the last minute so he didn't notice her starting to wake up.

The girl yawned and sit up, she rubbed what sleep was left out of her eyes and then the four bandits. "Oh, who are you all?" Then she noticed her satchel in Hogs' hand, "Hey that's mine."

"Oh this, sorry, we found it on the rock there and though that something left it there."

The girl got up to her feet, "Well, I left it there when I came across this meadow." Barts asked, "And you like just fall asleep here on the ground?"

"Yeah, I was just walking around the forest and then it was nightfall and I was already soooo sleepy, and then I found this meadow and I thought it was really beautiful and a good place to sleep." The girl said in a rather slow and calm tone.

"And what were you doing wandering the forest? Don't you know it dangerous here, there are monsters prowling about." Tolos said.

"Huh, monsters?... Nope I didn't see any monsters while I was walking around."

"So why were you wandering around? You're look like you are travelling or something." Mole wondered. "Are you from the nearby village?"

"Village? No I didn't know there's a village nearby. And also, yes, I am travelling" Tolos asked, "And where are you heading off to?" The girl replied, "I'm not sure, Mr. Old Man told me to come."

"Mr. Old Man? Who's that?" Hogs asked.

"I don't know. That was what I called him during my time with him."

"So you stayed with an old man whose name you don't even know?"

"Hehehe," the girl laughed, "Yeah, he wouldn't give me his name."

"And what's your name?" Mole asked.

"My name is Plutia. And yours?"

"Mole. And these are my friends, Hogs, Barts, and Tolos." Mole said pointing to each of them respectively. Plutia giggled, "Mole? Is it because of your mole?" pointing at the huge mole on his chin.

Mole touched his mole, "Not exactly" he lied. It was exactly what gave him his name. And he himself got stuck with it.

Plutia stretched and said, "I'm hungry. Guess it's time to have some breakfast. Hei you all want some food I think I have some blueberry tart left," She went over to Hogs but just she went for satchel Hogs withdraw his hands away. "What? Hey, what gives?"

"I'm sorry missy but I'm afraid while you were sleeping we decided to take whatever you got." Plutia stiffened, "Take my things? But that is not right you can't just take other people's stuff like that."

"I think we can, you see we're bandits and this is what we do; rob people." But instead of being afraid, Plutia seem confused, "Ban… aids? Like what you use to treat cuts or something?"

"Wh-what? Excuse me, I said bandits, B-A-N-D-I-T and like I said earlier we rob people."

Then did Plutia understood, "Rob people! Uh-oh, that means all of you are bad people. Is this going one of those important events in the plot?"

"Don't know. We just have to see what the writer is going to plan and go along with plot." Tolos said breaking the fourth wall. "So, back to what we just said we're just going to take your stuff as simple as that and I think I'm going add an extra item in the inventory." Then he grabbed Plutia's arm and she gave out a small scream, "I'm the extra item?! Hey! Let go!"

"Whoa, hey, Tolos I said we just going to take her stuff and forget about her" But Mole, being on agreement with Tolos, protest again, "No way, come on, what harm is there anyway."

"He gets it right, why let go such a cute birdie?" Tolos gently went to stroke Plutia's cheek with his free hand. She didn't struggle, until now, "I don't to hurt you but now…" With her free left arm, she grabbed Tolos arm that was holding her and with her right which was held on by him she flicked her wrist and wrapped her fingers around his wrist. At the same time she placed her right foot back with her left foot slightly forward. Then she twist Tolos' arm. The man had good muscles and big arms while Plutia was thin and young but somehow she was able to sprain his arm. Tolos cried in pain and immediately Plutia did sweeping kick to his feet with her right foot and Tolos went under. Before anyone could act she lurched at Hogs and grabbed her satchel and able to snatch it from his clutches with surprising strength and ran off across the meadow before Mole could grab her.

"Aaaaaahhhhh, that little…..." Tolos got up, holding to his sprained arm and then ran off after her. Hogs call out, "Hey! Tolos, where the heck do you think….ah! That bastard." He then took off after Tolos with the other two following behind. But what they don't know is that something is following behind as well. It had watched the whole thing, hiding at the edge of the meadow, waiting for an opportunity pounce.

Plutia ran across the meadow into the forest. She jumped over a huge root, ran up a small hill, sweep away low hanging branch from the closely pack trees all around. She just kept running ahead, clutching on her satchel until she heard the sound of pursuit behind her. She glanced back to see Tolos running after her. He was running with all speed he has, still cradling his sprained arm. His fellow bandits were close behind him.

Plutia shouted to the bandit running after her, "Stop chasing me, pleaaaaasee!" Tolos shouted back, "Like hell!" The land suddenly gave to tall and very steep hills. A path cuts through between two hills and Plutia went straight into the path. While the path was nothing but dirt the hills were covered with grass and trees. She ran on, starting to get tired; Plutia was not one for physical activities.

The path went for one minute of running before it ended into the hillside. Oh, no. The hill was at least twelve feet tall and really steep. There's no way Plutia would able to scale it or jump high enough although she knew she would made it higher than the bandits.

Speaking of which, Tolos caught up to Plutia and cornered her. "Bad luck little girl." The rest of the bandits also caught up.

"The hell was that Tolos? You really have to take this seriously?" Hogs shouted angrily. Tolos glared back at him, "Like I'm gonna like her off, beside I am still gonna take her with us."

"And what are we suppose to do with her? Don't tell me you gonna do what I'm think you gonna."

"Well, if you do, then that makes you sick!" Barts chortled.

Tolos growl, "What's with that chortle you greasy rat?! You prefer an axe to your skull or something?!"

Somewhere above them came the sound, "CRUNCHHH!" But they didn't hear it.

"Hey! Hey! Knock it off Tolos!"

CRUNCHHH!

"Yeah, no need to get barbaric here." Mole said. He turned to Plutia, "Listen, I think you shouldn't really be wandering around alone, we can take care of you."

"Yeah right, you think that's gonna make her come with you. HA! You want her as much as Tolos do, do you?"

CRUNCHHHHH!

Mole's cheek blushed red but what Barts should was true, sort of. He wasn't really sure. Mole was always not sure with himself. "Okay, that's enough! We just going to rob her, simple as that and leave." Hogs half shouted in anger.

Plutia was trying to formulating a plan to get out of this mess but none came, just the idea of fighting was just the only option she had. CRUNCHHHH! The bandits were still arguing; ignoring Plutia as they thought she couldn't do anything since she was cornered. CRUNCHHHH! Hogs was shouting at Tolos while he shouted back. The other two butted in a bit but mostly it was just former two arguing.

Plutia thought of this as a good opportunity to attack. She didn't know the chance of her fending off four of them but she was completely out of options. Tolos was looking like he was about to swing his axe at Hogs. Plutia slowly move her hand to her plushy at her hip.

Then she noticed something falling down from atop of the hill and it hit Tolos on his head. Tolos, a bit surprised, look down at what hit him. On the ground were crumbled pieces of a biscuit. Suddenly something hit Hogs on the head and fell to the ground; it was another biscuit.

Everyone looked up at the cliffs and were all surprised to find someone was watching them the whole time.

The boy was munching on biscuits as he watched the whole fiesta unfold below him. He was crouching on the edge of the cliff, He seen to be a teenager, about fifteen, and as Plutia and the bandits can see, he has pink hair, fair skin and purple eyes. He was wearing a white hoodie with purple lining along the sleeves and the hood. The zipper was a button emblem with an N on it and two strings that looks like controller plugs. He was also wearing purple baggy jeans with lots of pockets.

The boy was still eating his biscuits when they noticed him. He looked from Plutia to the bandits but said nothing. Finally, Tolos shouted at him, "Hey! You better be sorry for that. Doesn't your mom ever tell you not to throw biscuits at people?"

"Nope," the boy replied, said it loud enough for them to hear clearly, "Because I never had a mother." He took another bite of his biscuit.

"Well, maybe you should learn now because if you were down here and not up there I could give you a spanking you never forget." Tolos said while brandishing his axe at him.

The teenager eyed the axe while he ate the last piece of his biscuit, "Nay, that's not intimating at all. Sorry Mister Beardo." He wiped the crumbs off his hands.

"You little brat!" Barts snickered and Tolos turned to him with a glare, "What?!" Barts held up his hands, "Nothing. Nothing at all."

Plutia also snickered at the boy's insult. The teenager looked back at Plutia and said loud enough to her, "You're cute." He grabbed something on the ground beside him and then leaped into the air. He did a somersault and fell twelve feet to the ground. He landed on the ground as if he was landing on a mattress with a soft thump. He turned towards Plutia, "These guys giving you trouble?" Then Plutia saw what he was holding in his left hand.

The sheath was curved and purple in color, the cross guard was round and the grip was wrapped in purple cloth. Anyone can know it is a katana. The bandits saw the sword as well.

"Now that's a mighty fine sword there." Mole muttered.

"Hey, kid," Hogs shouted to the teenager, "Should a kid like you be walking around carrying that sword? Is it even yours?"

The teenager looked behind him at Hogs, then at his katana and back at him again. "Who else?"

Tolos gave out a laugh, "I would like to see you use that, boy."

The teenager looked at Tolos and to the axe in his hand. Then he looked at the rest of the bandits saw that they all are armed. "I would love to show you but I got business somewhere else."

Tolos gave out another laugh, "So you can't use that after all and now you to think to run away."

Then, the teenager said, "No, I'm not going anywhere. My business is here."

That surprised the bandits a bit. Plutia finally said something since she was cornered, "Business? What business?" The teenager answered her question by pointing at the bandits.

"Us? What do you want from us? Who do you think you are?" asked Mole.

The teenager put on a smile and then saluted the bandits, "The name's Neptune and I'm basically one of the main protagonist of this fan fiction."

Both Plutia and the bandits had confused looks on their faces. Barts spoke up, "What are you even saying? Fan fiction?" Behind Neptune, Plutia asked, "Pro…ta…cooo….hist? What's that?"

Neptune answered, "You know. The main character of this story that is based on the game, which the writer is a fan of, despite he never really played the game."

"Oh, ok." Plutia said after letting that answer sink in. The bandits in front were still trying to make sense of Neptune's fourth wall breaking. Tolos shouted at Neptune, "Hey, answer us, would ya? What in Hell's name are you even saying? Main character? Fan fiction?"

"Well, let's just say my world is not limited to four walls." Neptune chuckled for a bit, and then the smile left his face. His hand went to his katana.

The bandits saw his movement, Barts held his pitchfork with both hands and lowered it at Neptune but the others held their ground, Hogs said, "What now? You gonna fight us or something? All four of us, you're dreaming, kid."

"Ha! I guess we can see what you got, boy." Tolos said, holding up his axe.

Neptune said in an alarmed tone, "Yeah, sure, why not? I would to see you use those against that manticore behind you."

Tolos gave out a soft laugh, "As if we gonna fall for that." Hogs and Mole didn't believe Neptune either but Barts turned around and gave out a scream. "MANTICORE!"

It seemed that when Neptune pointed his finger at the direction of the bandits earlier, he wasn't pointing at them, he was actually pointing behind them. The manticore was stalking them since the meadow, it lost them along the way but it caught their scent and with the commotion going on it finally found them.

It was huge, it has a ten feet long body of a lion with large muscles, it has a mane but its face was humanoid with horns sprouting out of the side of its temples. And its tail was a huge scorpion tail with a large stinger. And to make it more terrifying it was hungry and the humans in front of it were on its menu. It bared its teeth; three rows of teeth in fact.

Plutia gasped and Barts screamed some more and fell down on his butt. Hogs and the other two, fully alarmed, drew their weapons. The manticore let out a roar like a lion and its stinger raised upwards a bit, preparing to strike. "Uh-oh, what are we going to do?" Plutia said; her voice surprisingly calm. "Don't worry. This is my job and I'm going to finish it like I always do." Neptune reassured her with a smile. He started walking towards the manticore and the bandits.

The manticore was looking at each bandit in turn and back again, trying to decide who to attack. There's no escape, with the manticore blocking the only path. Then Mole rushed forward, either by bravery or panic, his spear raised ready to jab at the manticore. But he was a bit too slow. The manticore saw him coming; it raised its huge paw and batted Mole away hard. He hit the side of the steep hill and laid down unconscious.

Seeing this as an opportunity, Hogs lunged at the manticore with his sword. He didn't think where to stab the manticore, he just went for it. His sword stabbed the manticore near the joint of its shoulder. It howled in pain, and in rage. Hogs may have wounded it but it will take more than that to kill it.

Its tail rose and lunged at Hogs. There wasn't any time to avoid it. The tail came rushing at him and when it was just about few centimeters from his chest, the color of white appeared in his vision. He didn't felt anything; no pain or agony. When he looked up, he saw pink hair.

Neptune managed to rush in fast enough to block the tail with his sword sheath. The tip of its stinger struck in the middle of the sheath.

Neptune looked over his shoulder at Hogs, "You know what? How about you let me deal with this. After all, readers like to read about how the main character beats the vile monster and everything." As he said it, the manticore's tail came rushing forward again, at Neptune.

Without looking forward, Neptune grasped the handle of his katana, drew the blade and deflected the attack. Hogs was surprised by his move.

The manticore then change attacks. This time it crouched down, ready to pounce at Neptune. Both Hogs and Neptune saw the action and ducked aside just in time when the manticore leapt forward. It landed behind them and turned around to face them again. But just as it did Neptune took the opportunity. He rushed forward and swung his katana at the manticore's almost human face. His sword sliced through the face from cheek all the way across the nose.

The manticore roared out in pain. The roar was loud enough to made ears ring. It started to attack wildly. It tried to attack Neptune with a paw but he step-sided. Then it started to attack with it tail again. Neptune blocked two attacks and dodged a third.

While Neptune battled the manticore, Plutia watched as the rather confident teenager fought the monster on his own, debating whether she should help or not. The bandits on the other hand decided it was time to go. The path was not blocked by the manticore anymore so while it was distracted they retreated. "You think we should leave those kids back there?" Barts said to Hogs. They were both carrying Mole who was still unconscious.

"Who cares? If the kid gonna fight it, let him if he is so confident." Tolos snapped, jogging beside them. Hogs stayed quiet but it meant he agreed.

Back to Neptune; the manticore has already demonstrated it was fast more than once. It kept jabbing at Neptune with its tail and the stinger with good speed. Neptune blocked and dodged the tail very well. He deflected two of its attack and quickly leapt at the manticore before could go for another attack.

His katana slice through the air in a full arc, it came down on the right side of its face. The blade sliced off a chunk of flesh as well as the horn. The katana was swung at an angle that it sliced the flesh off enough to reveal the skull underneath. 'Damn it, I been careless with that.' Neptune thought; if he had took more care with his swing he could had sliced the manticore's face open.

Killing it there would had being more merciful. The manticore was in huge pain and it was angrier than before. It attacked Neptune with a paw but he backed away.

It attacked Neptune again with its tail; this time it swung it at him. The tail came at his left and fast. Unable to dodge it he blocked it, with his sheath. As the tail came in contact with his sheath, the force of the blow was enough to push Neptune sideways. He wasn't lifted off his feet, though. His feet slid along the ground and stopped after being pushed a few feet aside.

The force behind that blow was enough to made Neptune's wrist a little numb. As he felt it a small smile appeared on his lips, He could only remember the last time his wrist felt numb. He thought that it has been a while now. He could still the sore and numbness and pain in his muscles through hours of training with his sword and other weapons he hardly prefer to use. That had been almost a year ago, back at that old farmhouse with that old man. Every morning until evening they trained with only a few breaks. The hours he and his sister spent exercising their bodies, shooting using a man-shift range, meditating, mastering their fist and weapons ranging from sword to axe, spears, halberds, and whatever weapons exist. But whatever weapon they used, he and his sister always prefer using swords.

But then he realized something else, that small smile that appeared had been there throughout the fight. Both his sister and the old man said that they almost always found him in every battle with a faint smile.

His attention immediately snapped back to the manticore. He was just in time to roll aside as it went for him with a pounce. Neptune quickly got to his feet and faced the monster.

But the manticore didn't turn around. It was looking head, at Plutia. It finally noticed her. "Uh-huh, not good!"

Plutia, seeing she's in trouble, backed against the dirt wall. The manticore took a step towards her, baring its teeth. "Hey! Over here! We're supposed to be fighting!" shouted Neptune but the manticore had already given up on him.

Then the manticore leapt at Plutia. Neptune tried to rush in but it was already too late. The manticore soared through the air, its paw extending with its sharp claws. Plutia yelped; there's no way she can avoid it. So she had to go defensive.

She thrust out her hands quickly. The manticore's paws were a few centimeters from her, when suddenly it hit something invisible. There was a white light where the manticore hit the invisible object and ripples formed in the air. The ripples spread out in the air and seem to form a square. The manticore shook its head and looked at Plutia with what look like a confused face. Then the humanoid face turned vicious again and tried to attack Plutia again. The result was the same as it bounced off an invisible force field.

Neptune realized what it is. A shield made of solidified air. 'Magic. She's using magic.' Neptune thought. The manticore continued its assault, clawing, slamming, and jabbing with its tail but the shield held. But Neptune knew it won't hold for long. A magic shield held as long as the one who uses can hold it with concentration. Plutia was straining to hold the shield as the manticore attack it. She can feel the force of the attacks and shield strain under it.

Neptune thought it's time to end it now. He slid the sheath into one of his jeans' loopholes. With his free hand he gathered power into it. Magic is inside of him, as well as many people but not all though. They could tap into this mysterious force that lies in their body as well as the surrounding. Magic is everywhere. That is what the old man said.

He could feel the magic gathering around his hand and as it does, it started to shine purple. Purplish steam appeared and rolled off his hand as it glowed brighter. Then tendril made of magic appeared and drift off the air for a moment until Neptune, in full concentration, thrust out his hand. The tendrils shot out towards the manticore and they wrapped themselves around the monster. The manticore, realizing it was ensnared, started to struggle against the tendrils. But they weren't tendrils anymore.

When the tendrils shot out and wrapped around the manticore, they started to become something else; Chains.

The tendril took the form of ethereal chains that glow purple. They even made the clinking sound real chains do.

The manticore kept struggling but Neptune held on with concentration and will. Even though the manticore was huge and weights probably more than two hundred pounds, Neptune when he pulled on the ethereal chains, the monster staggered back. Neptune, with all his strength, pulled again, and the manticore was pulled off its feet. It landed on the ground with a loud thud.

This is Neptune's chance. With concentration, Neptune poured magic into his katana. He could feel the magic coating the blade and when it had covered it completely, he said a word of power, alternate name: a magic word or the name of the spell.

His katana started to glow a gold-yellow hue and he could feel heat radiating off of it. He was ready, as he was the manticore managed to get to its feet. Its looked at Neptune with angry eyes and then charged at him.

Neptune, with good reflexes and quick thinking, muttered a word and snapped his fingers. The chains that were connected to his hand snapped free and that end of the chain joined its other end wrapped around the manticore, completely ensnaring it. It felt to the ground and landed a few feet from Neptune.

Neptune raised his sword, and was going to strike when the manticore suddenly managed to get its tail lose. Its tail sped towards him, its stinger gleaming. Neptune reacted in time. He swung his katana at the coming tail and when the two collided, Neptune's sword cut through the tail.

The top of the tail along with the stinger was cut off and it fell to the ground near Neptune's feet. The end where the tail was cut off was burned and there was the smell of burn insect, which should be expected, considered it is a scorpion tail. The manticore roared in pain.

Not wasting another moment, Neptune lunged at the manticore. He sliced at the manticore's face.

His katana sliced through the monster's face and Neptune continues to push his sword through the manticore's body in a horizontal line. Where his magically-enhanced katana made contact with the flesh, smoke rose as the katana both cut and burned through the body. When Neptune reached midway through the manticore's body he stopped and pulled his sword out. The manticore's body sagged and laid still. Then its body started to glow white and the light then engulfs the entire body. Then the manticore burst into hundreds of shards of glass that shine.

All was quiet now. Neptune, realizing he had been holding his breath, exhaled. He slid his sheath out of his jean's loophole and sheathed his katana. 'Mission accomplished' thought Neptune.

"That was amazing. You can use magic too."

Neptune turned towards Plutia, who watched his whole magic show with the chains and his sword. "Yeah, and so do you." Neptune replied with a smile, "So, were you in some kind of trouble with those men just now?"

"Welllll…..don't really know how to say this…..robbery?"

"Looks like it. They do look like bandits. You know what; you shouldn't be here after those bandits then the manticore. You have a place to stay? A village? You lost or something?"

"Well…" Plutia thought how to best explain her situation. "I don't have anywhere to go, I guess."

"You guess? You like what, travelling alone? Sound dangerous."

"I hadn't really been travelling long. Mister Old Man told me to come to this place."

Neptune gave her the same confused face as the bandits did, "Mister Old Man? Hmm, wait, I knew an old man before. He never told me his name."

"Really! Whoa, what a coincidence, Mister Old Man never told me his name either." Plutia said in surprise.

"Whoa, somehow I get the feeling of a plot twist happening right now."

"Heehee, plot twist." Plutia said, in a way which Neptune found cute. He looked up at the sky, it could be near noon already and he thought it is time to go back home. "Well, I think I head back home." He turned around but then looked back, "Hey, since you don't have anywhere to go, why don't you come to my village."

"Ummm, okay." Plutia ran up to standing beside as they walked along the path and back into the woods.

When they walked into the woods Neptune said, "Hey, we didn't introduce ourselves." He held out a hand, "The name's Neptune." He said with a smile. Plutia returned the smile and shook his hand, "My name's Plutia."

They walk side by side as they trotted through the woods. It was quiet except for occasional rustling of a bush, the sound of deer running off or squirrels running through the trees. The noon sunlight shine on the leaves of the trees and passed through them to shine on the ground. As they walked, the terrain started to move down into the lowlands.

They continued on until Neptune said they need to take a right in order to find the path that will lead out of the woods. When they did find the path, they walked on for half an hour before they emerge out of the wood and into an open field. The field was covered with sweet green grass with small group of trees and the path continued on downhill.

On their way, they saw two horses running on the field. One was chestnut-brown while the other was a darker shade of brown. They clopped across the field, their manes flowing behind them. Neptune and Plutia watched them run with all the freedom they have. The two horses ran across the field, towards the field and into the woods.

After a while, Plutia asked, "Neptune, Do you live alone?"

"Nope, I have a sister." Neptune replied.

"So you and your sister live alone. You both don't have parents?"

Neptune shook his head, "No, in fact, I can't remember if I had parents."

"Don't remember? Like amnesia."

"Maybe. It could be. A story with the main character having amnesia and don't remember his past is a rare settings these days."

"And your sister has the same thing?"

"Yeah." Neptune said it casually.

"And how did you meet Mister Old Man?"

"Well." Neptune thought for a moment, remembering that place less than three years ago. "When my sister and I woke up with amnesia. We were in someplace…ruinous." pausing at the last part of the sentence to find the right word. "I don't remember anything. I don't know how I got there and I got this weird feeling."

"What feeling?"

"A feeling…like I just woke up for the first time in my life."

"And how did you know your sister? I mean you had amnesia, so how do you know she is your sister."

"I…just know. When I saw her I just know she's my sister. And when she saw me she called me 'Big Brother'. And for the old man, he like found us there, as if he-knew-we-are-there kind of way he found us. I ask him if he knew us but he said he doesn't know us but was expecting us. He told us to trust him to look after us because that was supposed to be his duty. And just like that."

Plutia was quiet when he finished and then she said, "The same happened to me."

That surprised Neptune, "The same? Like you woke up and he was there and he looked after you."

Plutia nodded, "I woke up in a forest; in a cave actually. When I walked to the entrance he was there, as if he was waiting."

Neptune thought about what she just said, "And he just told you to go along with him."

"I didn't trust him at first but he seem to be a very nice old man so I followed him to this shack he said he built himself. I stayed with him for almost a year and then he sent me here. He told me that I'm suppose to be here, in this part of the land."

"And let me guess something else, he told you magic, didn't he?"

"Yap, and I assume he taught you and your sister magic as well."

"And how to use a sword and other pointy stuff," Neptune said, holding his katana. "As well as how to read and write. Don't you find it weird that we both meet the same old man who taught us magic and other stuff?"

"And is it what you just called plot twist?"

"Maybe it is. Or I used the wrong word."

They kept walking on until Plutia spotted something in the distance. "Hey, is that?" Neptune nodded. They both saw a house in the distance and Plutia thought she can see the silhouette of people.

"Oh yeah, by the Plutie, I just remember something."

Plutia looked at Neptune with an amused expression on her so-calm face, "Plutie? A nickname, cool. How about I give you a nickname, um, I think I'll call you Neppy."

Neptune gave her a smile. Plutia noted that Neptune expression seem to rather merry. His expression throughout the walk has the shadow of a happy face.

"Thanks. Now like I just said; I just remembered two siblings who are also in the same boat as us."

"There are two others like us?"

"Mhm, a brother and a sister. They're both friends of mine. Maybe I can introduce you to them and let them know about you."

"Ok."

At last they walk the last quarter of a mile and reached the village.

It was just a small village; it has more than dozen houses. Some were brick houses while some were made of wood. The wooden houses had leaves for roofs and the brick houses had tile roofs while others had rusty metal panes. Some of the houses were far away from others. Plutia saw that almost all the houses had vegetable gardens in the backyard. A dirt road wines through the village and villagers walked along it. The villagers wore good enough clothes; shirts, trousers, jeans, sweaters, blouse, skirts although some Plutia saw were worn out and had tears on them. Some of the villagers pulled carts or carried baskets full of vegetables and some meat or stuff like flour, salt, and sugar. Some led sheep or goat and she saw one with a cow. She could also see a group of people trading items. Some of the locals greeted Neptune and looked at Plutia with curiosity.

A couple of children ran past them playing with an old soccer ball. When they saw Neptune, they all ran up to him and asked about what his work in the woods. "So what was it this time? Grumpkins? Werewolves? Fulgurs?" a boy asked. "Did you ever see unicorns or pixies in those woods? Are they even real?" a girl wondered. "Hey, is it true what they say; that there is a monster called Data?" another boy said.

They all kept asking question that Neptune couldn't keep up. Plutia was smiling as they crowd around him and let out a giggle. Then one of the kids noticed Plutia. "Who are you? Hey, Neptune has a girl with him!" The children all looked at Plutia and started asking more question.

"Who is she?"

"Is she from the woods? Is she actually one of those faeries?"

"Ok, ok, that's enough question already but right now I need to see old man Kain."

They all pointed towards ahead of the dirt road, "He's still at his house." Neptune thanked them and moved on with Plutia following. The children continued with their game.

Neptune and Plutia headed onwards and until they reached a wooden house. Outside of the house was an old man who looked to be over sixty. He was sitting on a rocking chair and was playing on a pipe. When he saw Neptune, he gave him a wary smile, "Oh, back already young lad. I assume you had finished off that dreadful manticore?

"Yeah, it was a piece of cake really."

"I knew we can rely on you, Neptune and thank you again. Oh, here you go." Kain hand him five silver coins and a handful of gears. Then he noticed Plutia, "Oh. Who is this now? Hello young lady."

"Um, hi." Plutia greeted with a friendly smile.

Neptune put his rewards into the pockets of his hoodie. "She's someone I found in the woods. I found her being cornered by some bandits."

"Dear me, they are probably the bandits that were causing trouble in the woods."

"Yeah and that's how I found the manticore." He told the old man everything.

"Now that's some story. Lucky Neptune found you or else you're in dire danger."

"Yeah, he was pretty amazing at what he does. Um, what does he do?" asked Plutia.

"Well, you could call him one of this village's monster hunter and protector."

"Monster hunter and protector, cool."

"So young lady, if you don't have a place to stay than you can stay here."

"Ok. Thank you."

"You can stay with me and my sister. We have a spare room."

"I guess that's settles than. Now you all excuse me I like to go back to my pipe." He lifted the pipe to his lips and started to play a merry tune. Neptune and Plutia left him there.

Who's that?" Plutia asked

"He's the elder around here and the one give me my jobs."

Plutia followed Neptune farther down the road until they reached a house. "Here we go, Home sweet home." Neptune walked up the house and opened the door. He beaconed for Plutia to come in.

The house was modestly furnished; the living room has an old sofa, a wooden coffee table, an old armchair, an old TV and an old carpet. There was a painting of a waterfall on one side of the wall and opposite it, a table with pictures and a radio on top.

"Hello, sis, I'm home." In reply, a girl's voice in the back said, "Oh Neptune, welcome back. Just a minute." Plutia walked over to the cupboard with the pictures and was about to look at them when the sound of electronics exploding and a scream can be heard in the back. "Wow, sis, what's going in there?" Neptune said as he put his katana in a corner.

They heard the sound of footsteps and a girl appeared in the entrance leading to a small hallway. When Plutia saw Neptune's sister, her first impression was 'twins?'

Even though she was shorter she looked like Neptune; she had the same pink hair, fair skin and smooth skin, and purple eyes. Her long hair was tied in a ponytail and she wore a sailor dress that has white and purple colors. She also has yellow ribbon tied around her collar with an N-emblem. She looks to be the same age as Plutia. She was taking a pair of goggles off as she entered.

"Welcome home big brother."

"Thanks, Nepgear little sis."

"Wow, so she is your little sister. You both look so much alike that you both look like twins."

"Huh?" Nepgear looked at Plutia with surprise, "Um, hello, who are you?"

Neptune did the introduction, "Nepgear, this is Plutia. Plutia, this is Nepgear, the technomancer."

"Um? Teckno…what?" Plutia asked, confused.

"Sorry about that. My brother sometimes makes up names and stuff."

"No I didn't. I got that from a TV show about some animals like a blue bird, a weird raccoon who both work for a boss that is a talking gumball machine.

"Oh that show, I remember now."

"By the way Nepgear, what was that sound just now?"

"That was nothing. I was just fixing a broken toaster but unfortunately without proper tools and good parts I can't fix it."

"That's reminds me," Neptune pulled out the gears that were given to him by Kain, "Got what you need for that grandfather clock."

"Thanks. Mrs. Wicket wants it fix soon and these are all I need."

"You mean that old lady who likes to eat coffee beans?"

"Yeah."

"By the way Nepgear, we don't happen to have a spare mattress, do we?"

"No. Why?"

Neptune tilted his head towards Plutia, "She is gonna live with us."

"She gonna…um, she doesn't have anywhere to go?"

Neptune told his sister everything including the part about the old man that sent her, "Old man! You mean grandpa. Really!"

"Could be."

"We hadn't seen him for less than a year now. I always wondered if he is doing well."

"He was doing alright before I left him. He seemed energetic and nice and healthy, even though he's old." Plutia told them.

"He taught you what he taught us. Huh, and the same thing with Nereus and Uni. This is starting to get mysterious."

"Well, we could visit them and introduce them to Plutie. With her in the same boat with us, we might as well start a club."

Plutia giggled at that joke. "Club? "

"Yeah, five young people, with a mystery to solve, we could be like find-outers. All we need is a dog."

"Is that supposed to be a reference to a book or something?"

"Hmm, could be. Okay let progress the story here. So we don't a spare mattress. You know anyone that has a spare?"

Nepgear thought for a moment. "I think Mr. Reese has one. He would want payment though."

"Okay, I'll go get it. See that our lovely guess feels like home because it is her home now."

Plutia blushed a little bit. "Lovely? Why thank you good sir." She giggled some more.

"Okay, you like some tea Plutia? We still have some left and I'll add a couple of biscuit. Please, make yourself comfortable."

Neptune opened a door that leads to the bedroom that he and his sister shared. He took out some coins from a box in the top drawer of a cupboard and came back into the living room.

"Well, I'm off, see you in a bit." He walked to the door and opened it. He walked out before closing the door behind him and walk down the road to where Mr. Reese's house is.

As Nepgear went to the kitchen, Plutia put her satchel on the sofa and then look at the photograph on the table. She picked one up. It was the picture of Neptune and Nepgear; both look a bit younger, with the old man. The old man had a smile that she always likes, it was warm and friendly.

"Why did you send me here?" Plutia thought.

Hundreds of miles away in a dense forest, lay a ruined castle. The castle was silent and abandoned for thousands of years now. It once belongs to a race of powerful beings. But those beings were long gone from that place.

Inside the castle, in its deepest chamber, there lies a slab of stone in the middle of the chamber and on the stone, lies a tome. Unlike the castle which was old and broken, the tome was still as fine as the day it was made. It has dark purple leathering and was embroidered with gold with a jade stone in the center.

And if one listens closely, they can hear the faint sound of snoring coming from the tome. It has laid there for many years now, waiting for the day a god would awaken in the lands it resides.

Part 1:End 


	2. Chapter 2: The Black Siblings

The Black Siblings

Ok, so, to those that read the last chapter, sorry it took so long. I didn't have much time to focus on this. If you had read the previous chapter, I want to let you all know that I made a grievous mistake: I wrote before I plan. When I wanted to write this fan fiction, I thought of how it begins but didn't think through the rest. What you read the previous chapter was a random beginning with an unplanned story. I was thinking of deleting it and start over but reconsider. Another thing is that I never played the game. I watched the anime but didn't play the game itself. I just watch YouTube videos of other people playing. I use the wiki as research page. None of the game shops I went to have the game considering it is not very well-known like games such street fighters or call of duty. But even so I want to do this. I was stuck with what had in the first chapter but I now have awkwardly planned story. And one more thing: think of the Gamindustry of this dimension as more fantasy-themed while still keeping a science fiction touch.

"Hello, Plutia, is you still in there? It's almost noon and you just miss breakfast." Nepgear knocked on the Plutia's door again. "Are you still asleep? You didn't have a bad night of sleeping did you?"

On the other side of the door Nepgear could hear Plutia waking up, "Nepgear? Oh, just a minute." Plutia said in her slow speaking manner. Plutia sat up, yawned and rubbed her eyes.' 'Still feeling tire,' she thought.

"Um, if you're hungry, I left your breakfast on the kitchen table."

"Thanks." Plutia stood, wobble a bit, and looked around at the room. Just yesterday, it was an empty and unused room, it surfaces gathering dust. But now it was her room. The mattress she slept on was old but still sufficient. Neptune brought it from Mr. Reese and he just carried the huge mattress back home with hardly an effort.

She stood there for a few second, half-asleep, and then walked over to the door, opened it and walked down the small hallway toward the kitchen. The kitchen at least had a stove and some carpets that have some can food. But they didn't have a fridge, the meat they have were dried and salted to last longer. A wooden table serves as the dining table.

While most of the kitchen was like that one part of it was turned into Nepgear's personal workshop. Two wooden tables with tools and parts from electronics laid on top of them, as well as broken appliances and gadgets that were still been fixed or were unfixable. Right now, Nepgear was fixing a grandfather clock.

"Ok, one more and there, success!" Nepgear exclaimed. The hands of the clock began moving and the sound of click, click, click could be heard.

"Wow, you fix it, Nepgear. Good work." Plutia congratulated.

"Oh, thanks, took me awhile but with those gears I finally fixed it."

Plutia's breakfast was on the table as Nepgear said. A plate of fried eggs, toast and what's left of the sausages they had left.

Plutia sat down and began to eat. As she took a bite of the egg, she wondered where Neptune was, "Hey, where's Neppy?"

"Neppy? Oh, you mean Neptune; he's outside tending to the vegetable garden."

"You two have a vegetable garden?"

"Yeah, food wasn't always enough for everyone in the village. The hunters would come back with fresh meat but it's hardly enough. Elder Kain told us to start our own vegetable garden."

"So, where did you get the bread?" Plutia asked as she took a bite of the toast.

"The village can thank Mrs. Smith for that. She and her husband plant wheat in their backyard. They are helped by some workers. They know how to make flour out of them and Mrs. Smith can make fine bread with them. But not just bread, if she has the ingredients she would make stuffed buns and cream puns."

"That sounds delicious. But why do you mean 'when she has the ingredients."

"She would need a lot of stuff like shredded chicken and beef and sauce. And as for the cream puns, she would need jam and cream. And you won't find any around there."

"Then, how do you get them?"

"Well," Nepgear answered as she arranged her tools neatly, "Every once in a while, there's a merchant who travels around Gamindustry who comes to this village to make trade. He owns a caravan and he has a lot of stuff, that's how we get the things we normally couldn't have or make. From him, I got all of these tools and parts. He also has clothing material, spices, food ingredients, books, electronics, manga or light novels, even weapons and ores like iron, copper, titanium and a lot of other things."

"That's a lot. Where does he get them?"

"Well, he's from Lowee, so that's where he gets all that stuff."

"Lo…wii? Where's that?"

Nepgear looked at Plutia with surprise, "You don't know about Lowee?" Plutia shook her head. Just then, the backdoor opened and Neptune came in. He was wearing an old and worn t-shirt and shorts. They were covered in dirt.

When he closed the door, he looked at Plutia and Nepgear, "Who doesn't know about what?"

"Well, Plutia doesn't about Lowee."

"Oh, ok, that's not a first. We didn't know about Lowee when we first got here."

"So where is this Lowee?" said Plutia after eating the last bite of sausage.

"Hmm, to start, it's the only nation in Gamindustry for the longest time. It's in the north and it has three CPUs."

"CPUs? What are they? Like electronic circuitry things?"

Neptune shook his head, "No, no. Not electronic thingies. CPUs stand for…um, what do they stand for again?" Neptune tilted his head and racked his mind for the answer.

Nepgear, clearing the plate, answered for him, "Console Patron Units. Or in other words, gods."

Plutia's eyes widened, "Gods!? Like divine beings or super humans?" Neptune put on a faint smile, "I think it's like 50/50. But still, overall, they're still gods!"

Nepgear washed the plate in a huge bowl of water. Since there's no running water, the villagers get water from the nearby stream or collect rainwater.

Neptune went to change out of the dirty clothes while Plutia went back to her room. She opened her satchel and brought out her sewing kit along with her plushie bear. When she came into the living room, Nepgear was dusting the furniture. Plutia asked behind her back, "Hey, Nepgear, you don't happen to have some spare cloth, do you?"

Without turning away from her dusting, she replied, "Um, no. Not really. What kind of cloth are you looking for?"

"Well… the kind you used to make clothes. You know, um… textiles. Or fabric."

This time Nepgear looked at her, "I don't think we have any of that kind of cloth. Why would you want one?" Just then, Neptune came out, wearing the same clothes as yesterday, sort of. The hoodie he wore looks more worn than the one he wore the day before. "Huh? Neppy you're wearing the same clothes as yesterday."

Once again a faint smile appeared on Neptune's expression, "Yes and no, I got a couple of the same hoodie. I find it kind of, well, my style. Kind of comfortable." He flexed his shoulders and arms as if to make sure it was still as comfortable as he said. He then turned around towards the corner where he left his katana. He picked it up, and the next second it disappeared in a dim flash of light.

Plutia knew what Neptune just did; he placed his katana into his 'Storage', a pocket of space in the spirit world which a magic user conjures up to store items in. Items in a 'Storage' can only be taken out by the user and not by any foreign individual it doesn't belong to. The only known way for someone to gain access to other user 'Storage' is to find the password. Passwords can be typically what one uses on their personal computer or locker; numbers and words.

"So, are we going or not?" Neptune turned back to Plutia and Nepgear. Nepgear, putting away the duster, looked at him with a look of confusion. Plutia also looked him the same way. When he saw their expressions he reminded them, "We are supposed to go see Nereus and Uni, remember?"

Nepgear then remembered what he said the day before, "Oh, right, a visit to them will be good." Excusing herself, she went into the bedroom and closed the door behind her.

When she was gone, Plutia asked, "So this Nereus and Uni…they suppose to your friends right?" Neptune nodded. "So, do you think I can be friends with them too?"

Neptune gave her request a thought and then said, "Of course. But with Uni it's easier but with Nereus…well…"

"Hmm? What?"

Neptune's expression turned into something that says 'sorry' and then a mischievous smile appeared, "Well…you can be friends with that tsundere-prince, if you can make him like you."

"Sundere? What do you mean make him like me?"

"Well, typical for a tsundere, they are mean and rude towards new people they meet. So, good luck with making friends with him."

"Oh."

The bedroom door opened and Nepgear came back in, wearing the same clothes as yesterday but this time, she is wearing stripped thigh-high socks, the same as Plutia. "Well, ready to go."

"Hold on, Plutia hasn't changed yet," Neptune looked back at her, "We will wait for you."

"Oh, well, I don't really need to change. These will do fine." Plutia waved a hand down her dress. Neptune and Nepgear looked at her, surprised at her decision.

"So, you're just going to go out in your PJs? But yet again, didn't you wear them yesterday?"

"If you look at it, your clothes look kind of…well, unusual. They look like a dress but yet again they also look like pajamas. Where did you get that type of clothes?" Nepgear asked.

Plutia smiled with her eyes closed and answered with a smile, "I didn't get them from anywhere. I made them myself."

Staring wide-eyed at her, Neptune asked, "Wait, you can sew clothes? No wait, Plutia, you're a seamstress?"

Plutia nodded and then held up her plushie, "And I made this as well."

Both Neptune and Nepgear looked at the plushie and Nepgear was the first to say, "You also know how to make plushies too? Whoa Plutia, you must be really good at sewing to make this and your clothes."

"Yeah, the Pattersons would be impressed too. They are the village tailors and they wouldn't be able to make a plushie and clothes like yours." Neptune complimented.

It was true enough. The plushie was finely crafted; the brown cloth was masterfully stitched together in neat zig-zags. Plutia didn't use anything other beside cloth. She used two perfectly round-cut black cloths to use as eyes and a light-red semicircle for the mouth. The round ears which the siblings don't know how she did it were nicely done. Overall, it was a masterpiece.

As for her odd clothing, they would stand out a bit, from its wide array of soft colors to the skirt, sleeves, belt, and top part of the dress. Other besides the dress, her socks, pink bear slippers and the ribbons which tie her long hair into a braid makes her look, to Nepgear; splendid, to Neptune; cute. But overall they both see that she looked like she was wearing pajamas rather than regular clothes.

"You should really join the Pattersons in making and repairing clothing. With your skills, the village would be in a better fashion state." Neptune said.

"So, that's why you were asking for cloths just now."

"Yeah, I wanted to make more plushies."

"Ok, what kind are you going to make? Another animal plushie?" Neptune asked.

Plutia shook her head, "Nope, I want to make plushie of you two."

Again, the siblings were surprised, "Make plushies of us? You can really do that?" Neptune asked.

"Uh-huh, it will be fun. I have been thinking of doing that for a while now and you two will be my first."

Both brother and sister smiled. Both thought the idea to be wonderful. "Sure, fire away with those needles, Plutie."

Plutia giggled, "Ok, I just can wait to prick my needle into you two."

"Hm?" Both of them then wondered what she meant by that. Neptune questioned her, "Prick your needle into us? What do you mean?"

"Well you know, sticking my needle into the fabric and sewing them together. I think it will feel like I'm sticking my needle into you two for real." She answered with a smile.

The siblings looked at each other and both of them felt or they could have imagined it; a shiver going down their spine. "Ok, geez Plutie you're one odd goose."

"What's odd? I just like to stick my needle into things. Hehehe." She giggled softly again, this time it sound a bit benevolent. Hearing what she said, Neptune and Nepgear were both sure a shiver went down their spine.

The trio walked down the dirt path that runs through the village. Plutia didn't change attire just like she said. She didn't bother to comb her hair either, she said that she hardly ever combs it and simply let it be in a braid.

Along the way, Neptune and Nepgear were greeted by the villagers and they looked at Plutia curiously. The story of Neptune finding a girl and bringing her to the village had spread by yesterday evening. Walking down the dirt path, Plutia saw more of the village and occupants.

She saw a house that had a chimney in it and as they passed it, she smelled the faint scent of bread. She then saw the backyard of the house had a garden with wheat growing in it. Nepgear said it was the Smith's home, the couple she told her about over breakfast that bakes bread.

Then they passed a middle-aged man who has some clothes in them. The man greeted them while looking at Plutia curiously like the others. "Got some new clothes from the Pattersons?" Neptune asked. The man nodded, "Yes, the kids need new clothes and I asked them to make some new ones." They went on their way without another word.

"We are close. It's just over there." Neptune pointed towards a brick house with a crude tile roof. They walked up to the door and Neptune knocked. From inside they heard a girl's voice, "Who is it?"

Nepgear answered, "It's us Uni."

A moment later, the door opened and a girl appeared. Her flowing black hair was tailed into twin pigtails with ribbons and she wore a black blouse and with matching black shorts and miniskirt over it. She also wore knee high socks and the noticeable thing Plutia noted were her red eyes. She seems to be younger than Nepgear.

Nepgear held up her hand in a gesture of greeting with a smile, "Hey, Uni. How are you?"

Uni smiled back, "Hi, Nepgear, yeah I'm fine. Good to see you too Neptune. And…" She looked at Plutia and asked, "Hey is she the girl everyone was talking about yesterday?"

Plutia smiled and said politely, "Hi."

Trying to be polite, she greeted her back. With just one look, Uni was already a bit dubious about her and wondered whether she should even like her.

"Well, Plutie, looks like you're already famous." Neptune said. "Hey, Uni, you and Nereus got to know where she came from, you wouldn't believe."

Seeing the gleam in Neptune's eyes, Uni thought it was important. "Ok, but first come in. And also, Nereus is not here. He went with some of the villagers to chop trees for wood."

After letting them in and offering them water and tea, the trio told Uni everything. After listening to everything, she turned to Plutia and asked, "So, grandpa like found you and taught the things he taught us?"

"Well, the magic part at least, he said that I was really attune to it. I wasn't really that good with a sword or any other weapon."

Uni listened to tone and found it weird that she talks in a slow manner. "You're right this is weird. The old man you described sounds just like grandpa all right. What's going on here anyway? First, it was you two, then it was Nereus and I and now it's her."

Neptune sipped his tea, "Well, that is the thing with stories; if there is mystery, the characters have to solve it themselves with clues they have or found. That is what we should do."

"So, should we go to Nereus and tell him about all of this?" Nepgear suggested.

"Yeah definitely, time to introduce the next character." Breaking the fourth wall, he drank the last of his tea and got up.

According to Uni, Nereus and the villagers were at the northwest side of the village, only a dozen yard from the village. Walking off the dirt path and proceeding northwest for a while, they heard the sound of wood being chopped and people shouting.

More than a dozen people were there, working together like a trained team, chopping and dragging wood. Just as they arrived, people were stepping aside as a tree fell to the ground with a thud. Then some of the lumberjacks started hacking the fallen tree, trying to chop it into smaller pieces.

Among the workers one shouted, "Ok, I think one more will do!"

Someone responded, "Alright, this is the one!"

"Hey, that sounds like Nereus." Nepgear said. They scanned the group of workers until Uni pointed and said, "There he is."

They followed where her finger was pointing and saw two men chopping a tree. They approached them, with greetings from the lumberjacks for Neptune and Nepgear and more curious looks at Plutia along the way.

As they neared the two men, one of them stopped chopping and bent over, catching his breath. "Maybe you should take a break." The younger of the two, a teenager, said. The older man, who was in his fifties, declined, "No, no, I'm okay. Let's just finish this."

"Just sit back. I can finish this on my own." The teenager faced the tree, which has a foot left in in the tree trunk and raise his axe, preparing to swing. "No, I'm up again," the old man stood up, just as he did, the teenager swung his axe. A loud crack sounded as axe meets wood with great force. The teenager swung again and this time, the axe chopped through the tree trunk, splinters flew everywhere and the tree went down.

The old man looked at the fallen tree then at the youth with wide eyes. The teenager looked back at him and smile with self-proudness, "Told you I can do on my own."

"You're always saying you can do things on your own dude." The teenager turned around and found his sister along with two siblings whom he called his friends. Maybe because I can do things on my own."

Plutia saw that, like Neptune and Nepgear, Nereus and Uni possess some similarities. Nereus looks to be older than Neptune though she wasn't so sure. He has neatly trimmed raven-black hair, red eyes that were a darker shade than his sister's, pale-fair skin, slightly muscular and kind of handsome. He wore a white singlet and a pair of black trousers.

Nereus dropped his axe into a crate and grabbed an old black jacket and put it over his singlet. Just as he did, Plutia saw two scars on his left arm.

"So, what are you all doing here anyway?" He asked.

Neptune answered him and waved a hand towards Plutia, "Introducing to you our new member of our little mystery of course. I'm sure you can guess who she met and how she got here."

When Nereus looked at Plutia, he gave her a not-so-friendly look. Plutia tried to smile and greet him politely but with the look he was giving her, she knew that he already doesn't like her. Nereus looked at her for a moment more than looked back at Neptune, "So she is the one I heard people say you brought back here?"

Neptune nodded, "Yeah. I was like hunting and exterminating a manticore and then came across her and decided to bring her here since she has nowhere to go."

Taking in what he said, Nereus, in a harsh tone, said, "And when you mean by bringing her here you actually meant to let her stay at your place?"

Neptune knew this is what he would expect from Nereus, "Well, she don't have a place to stay and all, so I just being kind and let her stay."

"You let her, a complete stranger, stay at your house? Don't you think you're being too kind?"

"Too kind? Nay, I think I did a good deed. Don't think there's anything wrong there."

"Yeah, Neppy was kind to me by letting me stay." Plutia said, stepping into the argument, supporting Neptune.

Nereus looked back at her and asked, "Why are you talking slowly like that? And are you tire or something?" Looking at her tired-looking eyes and hearing her speaking manner, Nereus thought she was weird even more so.

"Um…well…it just a habit…I guess?"

Nereus kept his gaze on her for few seconds, and then sighed, "Ok, so what's your connection with the old man?"

It took a moment for her to think of the rights words to say, "Like you guys I had stay with Mr. Old Man, we stayed together in his nice shack, he taught me how to use magic because he said I am really good at it, and then he cut my teaching short because he said I have to find my own way and I came here."

The four listened and then looked at each other. Uni cut the silence, "Sounds just like us. We don't have memories of our past and we had been found by grandpa and he out of the blue taught us things and sent us off. Really, what is going on?"

Her brother gave her a look that says 'duh', "We had been asking that for years now, like keep asking the same thing will give us the answer."

"Oh, uh… sorry about that." She said while looking away sadly, not wanting to look at her brother.

Noticing her depression, Nepgear place a hand on her arm, "Hey, we will figure it out." She gave her a grin. Nepgear understood how she feels, knows why she gets sad over something so trivial.

"So, you mentioned that the old man said you are good at magic, like you are well attuned to it, right?" Nereus asked Plutia.

She nodded, "Yeah…he taught me a lot of magic and even gave me a book full of spells. He also taught how to hold a weapon like a sword…but I don't really holding them and practicing with them so I gave up really quickly. But he told how to fight with my hands a bit.

"Hmm, hand-to-hand combat, ok, that won't come off as a surprise since he also taught us how to use good old brawl power." Neptune said while holding both his fists up.

"What about you Neppy, what are you good at?"

"Well, Plu, I like using swords as you already saw yesterday. But I'm not really into spells and magic."

"And you forgot to mention you're horrible at using magic." Nereus said.

"Well, yeah, although I know a few…wait, wait; are you still mad that I almost struck you with my lightning bolt?"

"It's not just me. You almost struck Uni and Nepgear, setting Mr. McGuffin's house on fire. You said you know a few but why do you keep using lightning magic? You are absolutely horrible at lightning magic."

"Neppy is bad at lightning magic...?" Plutia asked.

"Bad? He's pathetic, horrible, terrible, and other words you can use to describe bad. He always misfires, sometimes he can't cast the spell and even if he did it will be weak and he could only set off a spark. But no matter how bad he is and how much we told him to stop using it, he just doesn't listen."

"Yeah, I know I'm bad but the old man told to keep on going with it and use lightning magic so I kept going."

"Why would he keep urging you to do so?"

Neptune shrugged, "Beats me."

Just then someone shouted to them, "Hey, Nereus, Neptune, don't mind giving us a hand here?" The villagers were transporting the chopped woods back towards the village. Some were pushing wheelbarrows; some carried them in their arms while one had a cart and a mule to pull it. They had only a few pieces left. "Ok, come on, let's help first."

Nereus walked off to help, Neptune, Nepgear, Uni and Plutia followed. Half-way, Nereus stopped. "Hey, why did you stop?" Neptune asked. Nereus didn't reply.

"Are you alright Nereus? Is there something wrong?" Uni asked.

This time, he turned his head and looked at them and said, "Do you all…feel something or heard anything…weird?"

They gave him odd looks and Neptune wondered, "Weird? Like what? Like a 'disturbance in the force' or something?"

Then, someone screamed and everyone turned towards the sound just a man was dragged by the legs into the woods by something big with fur. "What was that?" Uni said.

"Um, everyone, better get your weapons ready." Nereus said. A short sword appeared in his hand just as a dozen furry creatures dashed out of the woods. And then hell broke loose.

People started screaming and shouting. The wolves ran after the panicking villagers, running them down and attacking them with their powerful jaws.

One went straight for Neptune. It pounced at him and he ducked just in time. The huge wolf land behind him and was about to attack again when suddenly a bright beam of light struck it in the side. The huge wolf was pinned down on the ground with a spear of light sticking out of it. It whined in pain and struggled but it only intensified the pain.

Neptune looked to where the staff of light came from and saw Plutia dropping her hand to her side.

"Those aren't just wolves." Uni said.

"No, there are dire wolves. They are much bigger than just ordinary wolves." Nepgear said.

"Hey, I think it time to talk later!" Nereus shouted.

"Yeah, we have to help do something about this." A flash of light and Nepgear was holding a broadsword in her hands. Uni summoned a one-edged sword and both rushed forward to fight.

"Come on Plutie, let's do this." He summoned his katana.

"Ok." And both joined the fight.

The dire wolves were putting the drop on the villagers. One ran into a man and he fell down, then the wolf started to gnawing on his throat. While it was distracted, Nepgear quickly brought her sword down on its neck and almost cut it head off. It laid dead for a second and then burst into light.

The man's throat was shredded to bits and the arteries were all damaged, spewing blood. The man tried to breath but was unable to. Nepgear crouched down beside the man and muttered to herself, "Oh no, there's no way to save him now."

"Nepgear, don't do that in the middle of the battle!"

A dire wolf targeted Nepgear. It ran towards her and leaped. There was no time for her to react. Just as the wolf was about to land on top of her, it was struck by something thrown with great strength at it. It flew sideways and landed with a thud.

A sword was protruding from the side of its neck. Then Nereus appeared, walked to the carcass and wrenched his short sword out just as the body disappeared in a flash of light. He looked at Nepgear with anger, "Honestly Nepgear, don't get distracted."

Nepgear nodded, "Sorry."

Some dire wolves were dragging bodies, some dead, some still alive, towards the woods. Neptune and Plutia ran towards them. Neptune slashed at one and got its ear chopped off. The wolf cried and growled in pain, it focused its attention on Neptune. Plutia used the opportunity, using one open hand she move it in a pattern and then hold it out at the wolf. A blazing fireball flew at it, engulfing it in fire.

"Thanks, Plu."

That got the attention of two other wolves. They abandoned their prey and approached the duo slowly, one towards Neptune, one towards Plutia. Neptune slipped his sheathe into one of his belt holes so he had one free hand. The dire wolf approaching Neptune growled, a deep rumble in its throat, and then tried to snap at him. Neptune backed away and swung sword but the wolf stepped back quickly.

Taking the sword handle in both hand, he attacked the wolf with a downward slash. The wolf dodged that. He then swung his sword in an overhead slash. It jumped back just in time and lunged at Neptune. He managed to step aside and the wolf sailed past him.

Neptune, with his free hand, extended two of his fingers, the index and middle finger, out and swept his hand in an arc and kept his hand and two fingers pointed up behind him. As he did, he channeled his SP into the air where he is pointing.

The dire wolf turned around to Neptune and jump at him again. At the same time, Neptune swept his hand forward.

The blade made out of magic followed his hand in an arc and then flew point first, towards the wolf. It struck the wolf in its opened mouth. It went through the back of its mouth and the tip came out of the back of its head. The body flew back, landed on the ground and burst into light.

While Neptune dealt with his opponent, the one targeting Plutia tried to go for her leg. It rushed forward with its jaw opened to try and get her leg and bring her down. She clumsily dodged that and almost fell down. The wolf went forward to attack her again…

Plutia grabbed her plushy and swung it. Despite it was made out of clothing and cotton, the plushy hurt the wolf like a club. It hit the wolf square on its head, disorienting it for a bit. Taking this chance, Plutia threw her plushy to the ground and moved her outstretch right hand in a pattern.

The bear plushy, lying ragged on the ground, suddenly sit and then stood up. When the wolf focused again on Plutia, the plushy held out both of its arms and a magic circle appeared. Three straight beams of energy shot out of it and blast the dire wolf. The beams singed the wolf, hurting it significantly.

Whining in pain, the wolf backed away but didn't retreat. Deciding to finish it for good, she moved her hand in a slightly different pattern than before. He plushy held up its arms again, the magic circle appeared and this time, instead of three beams, a single beam, larger and much stronger partly due to her adding more power into it. This beam, added along with the damage given by the previous three beams, blasted through the wolf and burst into light.

"Plu, look out behind you!"

Another dire wolf was charging at her from behind. Fortunately, when she turned around she reacted quickly. Snapping her hands forward, she released a blast of force at the charging wolf. Her aim was a bit off but it sent the wolf flying back. Recovering from the blast, the wolf bared its teeth and was about to charge at Plutia again when Neptune rushed towards the wolf with remarkable speed and quickly brought his katana down on its head, point-first.

"Doing well I guess." Neptune said.

"Yeah, I think I can handle this."

While some people ran and panicked, one was either brave or foolish enough to stand his ground. The old man Nereus was working with earlier was holding an axe, swinging it at the two wolves near him. While he distracted, another one came up from behind and closed its jaw around his leg. The man went down and the three wolves started eating him.

Uni finished killing a wolf when she saw it happened. Without second thoughts she ran towards them. When she got there she started hacking at one of them with her one-edged sword.

The one she hacked at writhed away in pain while the other two left their food and turned towards her. They snapped and bite at her and she stepped back while swinging her sword, trying to cut them. She managed to get one on the side of its head. Then the other leapt at her and knocked her down.

Laying down and having the wolf on top of her, Uni started to panic and tried to struggle but the wolf baring its teeth stopped her. It looked at her with vicious eyes and was about to gnaw her when suddenly, something appeared bluish appeared before her eyes. The weight of the wolf on her disappeared.

Looking at the wolf, she saw that it was floating a few inches off the ground. Then she realized that it was trapped in a bluish bubble. The wolf moved wildly around in the bubble but every time it did, it just slipped.

She heard footsteps and her brother and Nepgear came to her side. "You're alright Uni?" Nereus asked. She nodded.

Growling turned their attention to the two other wolves. The two Uni wounded had recovered and were inching towards them slowly, their instincts finally telling them that whom they were facing are dangerous.

Going for the first strike before they do, Nepgear held her hand out, palm facing upwards. Gathering magic onto her hand and manipulating it into the air above it, she summoned five sharp icicles. Then, she threw it at the dire wolf closest to her. The icicles struck it and it back away.

The other lunged at Nepgear but Nereus intercept it by making a jabbing motion and released a strong torrent of wind from the tip of his short sword. The dire wolf flew back a few meters.

The wolf that Nepgear iced came running towards her for vengeance. When it tried a leaping attack Nepgear stepped aside while acting on reflexes, imbue her broadsword with magic and it glowed white-bluish.

Even though the wolf was soaring through the air for half a second, Nepgear jabbed at it in mid-air with surprising precision and speed. When the tip touched it, damage was done in the form of ice. The wolf landed awkwardly with ice protruding from its side. What it felt was absolutely cold.

Getting up, Uni saw this chance, rushed at it and stab it in the neck. For a moment, blood flowed from the wound and then it burst into light.

"Where's the other one?" asked Nepgear. Nereus pointed and the dire wolf that he sent flying came back. Both Nereus and Nepgear prepared themselves for its attack but then Uni said, "I want to handle this one." Stepping in front of them and going into a stance.

"You're sure about this?" Nepgear asked.

"Yeah, it just one wolf and I want to compensate myself for earlier."

Seeing the girl daring to face it, it bared its teeth and let out a deep growl to say that it accepts her challenge but Uni didn't know it was such. Uni watched the wolf with keen eyes, readying for the moment it attacks. She went through what options she had to defeat it; spells and suitable sword attacks.

Then the wolf charged at her and she reacted likewise.

Charging towards each other, time seems to slow down for Uni. The adrenaline going through her through was familiar. She felt it every time she went into a duel or a real fight. 'The perception and adrenaline of a warrior, a fighter', that's what the old man told her.

As she came closer to the dire wolf, she released her mana out of her enclosed hand and coated her sword with it. It started to glow baby blue.

The wolf commenced its attack with its signature leapt attack and Uni's attack was an upward slash.

The force of the energy bomb exploding at close-range knocked Uni off her feet and slightly disoriented her. She felt a wave of heat and the air was knocked out of her. Her sword flew out of her hand and dropped on the grass next to her.

When her dizziness subsided, she found Nepgear and Nereus had ran to her side. Nereus placed his hand on her shoulder and asked, "You're alright Uni?" Nodding, she stood up and looked to where the wolf's body is.

Before it burst into light, she saw that its head was in ruins. The front was blasted to pieces, from the skull to the bits of organs inside of it. "Overkill." She thought.

"That was kind of risky Uni, using an energy bomb at close-range could have harmed you." Nereus said with harshness in his tone. "Luckily, you didn't put too much SP into it."

"Sorry Nereus. I didn't have much time to…you know, choose the right move to pull off."

Nereus sighed and looked at her with stone-hard eyes but said in a soft tone, "Next time try to be more careful."

"Hey!" They turned towards the voice and saw Neptune and Plutia running towards them. When the two got to them, Neptune looked at the dire wolf still trapped in the bubble Nereus casted. "So, are we going to do like a 'Finish It!' or something?" he said the phrase with a hard voice like some kind of commentator.

Walking to the trapped dire wolf, Nereus pointed his short sword at it and gathered his SP into the sword and said, "Step back." The dire wolf continued its futile effort to get free as fire appeared at the hilt and then moved up the blade. The fire gathered into the tip and a fire ball formed. Instantaneously, the fireball shot towards the bubble and exploded upon impact.

The wave of heat and the force passed over them as the wolf was blown into pieces. They watched as the pieces burned and then disappeared in a blurred flash of light.

"Is that all of them?" asked Nepgear.

"Well, the paragraph above earlier said that there are a dozen of them. Plutia and I got three and killed another along the way here." Neptune answered.

"We got three here. Nepgear got the first kill earlier and I killed one right after. We also got another one before coming to Uni help. So that makes ten." Nereus added in.

Uni spoke out her count, "Before fighting these three, I killed another. And that makes eleven. Where's the last one?"

They all look around until Plutia pointed, "There it is."

She was pointing to the wolf she pinned down with a spear of light. It was still alive but not for long. It stopped struggling and lay silently on its side. Blood was flowing from the wound.

They approached it and stood over it. The wolf looked at each of them in turn; its eye was not full of fear but rather says that it was not afraid to die and ready to take any finishing blow.

"So, who's going to K.O. this one?" Neptune asked.

To his surprise, Plutia accepted the offer, "Mm, I don't mind doing it."

"Sure, Plutie, go ahead."

She went closer to the dire wolf and stare down into its eye, with it returning the stare. For a few seconds, they just stare at each other. Nereus broke the silence, "Well are you going to do it or not? You're just staring at it."

"I'm just thinking…how should I kill it?"

"Do you need any help? I could just do it for you." Uni offered, holding up her sword.

"No, I think stabbing it with a sword is not good. I think we need to be a bit harsher on it."

Neptune and the others gave her odd looks, "Um, meaning?"

Plutia closed her eyes and seem to be in thoughts. Then she said suddenly with benevolence in her voice, "I think we should really hurt it before killing it, slowly."

When she opened her eyes, everyone saw that they looked sadistic. "Hey, what's up with you?" Nereus asked.

A smile appeared on her lips, "Look at all they done. They killed and hurt a lot of people here…this really pisses me off."

Holding her hand in a claw-like manner, she pointed her forefinger at the wolf and the tip of her finger started to glow yellow. "Maybe slowly burning it with a beam of very intense heat will do it."

"Wow, wow, Plu, wait a minute." Neptune stepped in front of her put her hand down. "I see you're…kind of angry-looking and all but don't you think it's a bit too much?"

"Yeah, you know what, you even weirder than I thought you were and maybe even freaky." Nereus said.

"That's right Plutia. It's hurt already with the spear of light you used on it earlier. What's the name of spell again…um…Light Spear." Nepgear said.

"I think there is something wrong with you too." Uni joined in.

Plutia's eyes and expression then lost their sadistic look and she looked calm again as well as apologetic, "Sorry about that…I just feel kind of angry somehow."

Neptune, seeing how sorry she is, gave her a smile, "Hey, apologies accepted and let us finish this." He said with a bright and optimistic tone.

"Yeah, and I will do it this time." Nereus approached the wolf, raised his short sword and brought it down on its head. The carcass burst into light afterwards.

Everything was then quiet except for a few moaning coming from wounded villagers. "Looks like some people are still alive." Nepgear said

"You're right; we have to help them quick." Nereus said.

"Why would these dire wolves attack people out of the sudden? We never seen them anywhere close before." asked Uni.

"They were hunting for food of course. They must had left their previous hunting grounds and came to this area to look for more food. Dire wolves are known to attack to even humans too." Her brother explained.

"Well they chose the wrong hunting grounds. We finished them off like casuals gamers." Neptune applauded and made a fist.

"Yeah, we beat them and survive but the other villagers…" Uni said sorrowfully, looking around at the dead bodies.

They were about to spread out, when Nereus held up his hand and yelled, "Stop!" Everyone jumped at his voice and looked at him. Neptune asked "Wow dude, why stop all the something?"

"I don't know but…I think sensed something."

"What?"

Neptune's answer came in the form of a loud and thunderous howl. Nereus looked back at the woods and shouted, "This ain't over. Better get ready."

"What was that? It sounded like a wolf but…bigger." Plutia said.

"Seriously, we are already passed 7000 words now and we're still going. Hmm, this must some kind of boss fight."

Suddenly, they heard the sound of trees been snapped and uprooted as something big was coming. Going into fighting stance, Nereus shouted, "Here it comes!"

What burst out of the woods was twice their height, with purplish fur, large fangs and was angry. It eyed the five with yellow eyes and then let out a deep and loud bark.

"That is…" Nepgear trailed off.

Nereus finished her sentence, "A Fenrir. And I'm guessing the leader of the pack."

"But I thought wolves are supposed to follow their own species." Uni said.

"Not this one. There are stories of wolves or dire wolves following a Fenrir as the pack leader. There are even rumors of werewolves following these monsters." Nereus explained.

They heard a deep rumbling coming from its chest and then it snarled. "Let me guess, we killed its pack and it is looking for revenge." Neptune said.

"Geez, where was it when we had been killing its pack anyway." Uni wondered.

"I guess it was meant to be some boss fight for this chapter."

Without warning the Fenrir charged at them. The group managed to scatter away in time as it sped towards them with long strides. "Try to flank it!" Nereus shouted.

The Fenrir looked around at its enemies, trying to choose which to attack first. That left it open for Nereus to attack it. He swung his sword in a wide arc and released a gale of wind that also carried wind blades with it. The wind blades, when striking the Fenrir, cut off its purple hair and only grazed it.

'Damn it. It is a high-level monster after all.' He thought.

Feeling the sting from the attack, it turned its head towards Nereus and with a growl sped towards him. Nereus backed away every time it snapped at him. He slashed at it but the result was only a graze. It was going to continue its assault when suddenly it felt pain in its side.

It looked to where Neptune and Nepgear were attacking it with range attacks. Neptune was summoning two blades of energy and shooting them at the monster while Nepgear was firing bolts of energy.

"You're sure magic-based attacks works on it." Neptune asked.

"Yeah I'm sure. That's what grandpa's bestiary says if I remember right."

Neptune threw his energy blades; one hit the Fenrir on the head and damaged it while the other misfired and went straight towards Nereus. He deflected it with his short sword and shouted angrily, "Hey, watch it!"

"Sorry!" Neptune shouted back.

The Fenrir cringed as Nepgear fired five of her energy bolts, 'Stinger'. But it shrugged it off afterwards. It was about to take a step towards them when another attack made look to where Plutia was concentrating magic energy into fireflies made out of fire. A spell called 'Hell Flies.'

The fireflies flew towards the Fenrir and burn it upon contact. It moved away, sweeping at the fireflies but only managing to get its paws burn.

"Looks like fire attacks also works." Nepgear said.

Shouting, Neptune gave everyone the information, "Hey, use magic-based attacks and fire-based attacks!"

Plutia got the message as well as Uni. "Maybe I should use this," She put her one-edged sword back into her 'Storage' and took something else out: A rifle.

She checked the magazine to see how much bullets she had left; Eight. Eight bullets left. They were her last ones.

The Fenrir looked at each one in turn, trying to decide which one is the most vulnerable. At the same time, the five charged up for an attack; Neptune channeled SP into his katana and the blade was imbued with magic energy that glowed purple. Nepgear also enchanted her broadsword with magic and it glowed pink with the magic energy releasing a strong wind. Nereus moved his hand, with his short sword still in his right hand, in a pattern and then stopped with his fingers in a claw-like manner. A large fire-ball appeared between his hands. Plutia dropped her doll on the ground and it came to life. She then moved her right hand and fingers in a pattern with the doll mimicking her. Two magic circle appeared; a large one behind a smaller one. Uni pointed her rifle at the Fenrir and channeled her SP into the bullet inside of the rifle; enchanting it.

"On the count of three, everyone," Nereus shouted. The Fenrir's instincts then told it was in danger. "Ok, one…two…three!"

The Fenrir raised its head and let out a howl; a thunderous and incredibly loud howl. The sound wave literally rocked the ground and made the five fighters lose their concentration. Neptune's, Nepgear's, Plutia's attack were disrupted, Nereus' and Uni's missed. They all covered their ears against the horribly loud howl.

'Oh man, guess should have seen this coming.' Neptune thought.

The Fenrir then stopped its howl and turned its attention to them. With a vicious growl, it charged towards Neptune and Nepgear. Their ears were still ringing but Neptune saw it coming in time to push Nepgear away and jumped out of the way as well.

The Fenrir spun around and set its gaze on Nepgear. It walked towards her, the girl totally defenseless since she dropped her sword. She backed away as it came closer and it was about to close its massive jaw around her. The sting it felt shifted its attention to Neptune, who had attacked it with his signature '16-bit mega blade'.

"Hey! Come on, just you and me, you sloppily purple lump. Yeah, I got purple hair too, although it's lighter."

It turned away from Nepgear and approached Neptune until they were face-to-face. Meanwhile, Nereus, Uni and Plutia recovered from the loud howl and prepared some attacks. Nereus' attack was fire-based 'Slicer's; fire in the form of crescents which he threw them by swinging his sword. Uni charged up her bullet 'Infernius shot'; a bullet densely covered with fire. Plutia used her 'Arcane Trabes', where she used her doll to shoot three beams of energy.

They hit their mark; wounding the Fenrir. It yelped and turned its head to where they were. Then, Neptune held out his hand and a long sword appeared; 'His backup sword'. He imbued it with SP and it gave off a yellow hue. He struck the monster.

It winced and Neptune was about to strike it again but the beast whack him with paw. He flew back; the air was knocked out of him, his sword clattered next to him. The Fenrir decided to finish him off first; it charged towards him.

"Neptune, look out!" Nereus shouted and ran forward.

"Neppy!"

"Not good."

"Neptune, no!"

Neptune scrambled for his sword. He found it and wrapped his fingers around the handle just as the Fenrir leapt. Time seemed to slow down for Neptune. He saw the Fenrir flying through the air, its paw extended, its jaw opening for the kill. Neptune, lying on the ground, opened, vulnerable, mostly could die. He didn't have any time to think his way out of this as the gigantic wolf came down closer.

The words said by the old man during his training came to him all of the sudden: "Neptune, let me tell you; don't always rely on wits and brains to achieve victory. If you want to know what I mean; when you fight, you concentrate on the battle, but when you used that brain of yours to come up with a strategy, it will turn you focus away from the fight. If you tried to think your way around a deadly situation against something you don't know or understand you also can't find the means to defeat it. And if brute force doesn't work either then there is one thing left you can rely on: Instincts. Not just ordinary instincts but your warrior's instinct. It is what helps you make decisions you are unsure of. It is what make you decided what attacks, blocks, counters and counter-attacks to use when you have only an instant to respond to your enemies' own attack. So remember when you don't know how to handle a situation; clear your head, don't think, feel; use your instincts."

'Instincts.' Neptune, adrenaline coursing through his entire body, swung his sword at the Fenrir.

Nereus, Nepgear, Plutia and Uni were racing towards Neptune one second, and then the next they saw a flash of light and their bodies were shocked by electricity.

They all stepped back as the wave of electricity shocked them and covered their eyes when everything became bright. Everyone groaned and screamed.

"What is that?" Uni asked.

"I don't know but it looks like lightning." Nereus answered.

Then, the lightning subsided and they saw what happened. Where the lightning came from, Neptune was sitting on the ground, sword in hand, the grass around him were all burned. The Fenrir was dead.

Its head was disintegrated so only a quarter of it was left. Neptune was unharmed, even his clothes were fine. The Fenrir's carcass burst into light and it left something; a glowing orb on the ground.

"Neptune! Are you alright? What happened?" Nepgear asked worriedly. She crouched beside him, "What's wrong? Is there something wrong with your arm?" She said as she looked at her brother's arm; still outstretched and holding the long sword.

"I-I don't know but…my body…it feels numb and I can barely move."

Neptune tried to move his arm but he found it difficult. He only managed to put his stiff arm down half-way.

"I don't feel a thing."

"Maybe it had something to do with that lightning. It looks like you made that happen." Nereus suggested.

"But, I thought you said that Neppy is horrible at lightning magic."

"Yeah but I never seen him casting something of that proportion."

Just then they heard footsteps and a group of people from the village came to the site. They saw the villagers arming themselves with knives, machete, pitchforks and shovels. Nereus saw that two also had old rifles with them. What they saw shocked them. The man in the lead took in the scene and then walked to the five and asked Nereus, "What the heck happened? The people that ran back said that wolves attacked them. And some saw you five kids actually fighting."

"Well yeah, we risked our lives while you all just ran away and came back too late, Hamilton." He said.

"Sorry, but Kain told us not to go because it's too dangerous and put full faith that you lots can handle it. Looks like he was right."

"Well, I guess I give him my thanks for having faith in us. But unfortunately, even though we killed them all there are still some who died."

Nereus looked over the area at the dead bodies. There were about less than a dozen die. There were some who were alive and breathing but badly hurt and bleeding. But it was too late.

"I guess we will be having a funeral soon." Uni said sorrowfully.

The group then started to move away the dead. Some went back to the village and came back with enough cloth to wrap the corpses. Nereus and Nepgear helped Neptune up and set him by a tree. Plutia walked over to the glowing orb and picked it up. When she did, the orb disappeared and in its place was a bottle of red liquid. She recognized the item; a healing bottle, a high-level healing potion. Seeing how precious it is she put the item in her storage.

The rest of the afternoon was gloomy as the villagers all wrapped their dead and put them onto a cart that was used to carry logs just an hour ago. The mule that pulled it was still alive but its owner was dead.

Neptune watched all of this from where he sat, the feeling and body control were coming back to his body. As he watched the villagers going about their task he spotted Plutia walking and looking sad at the dead people. Then she saw Neptune, went over and sat down next him.

For a moment they were quiet for moment, Neptune was about to say something that he thought could lighten things up a bit when Plutia spoke, "Hey, Neppy, I want asked…" she looked at him with her still calm eyes, "Why do you think Mr. Old Man wanted to taught us how to fight?"

Neptune looked at her but didn't say anything. He, Nereus, Nepgear and Uni were also asking the same question. He went through what answer he could give and then said to her, "Well, that is kind of the question we are all asking Plu, don't really know yet until we get further into the story. But…"

He looked around at the people, the wrapped up dead bodies, Nereus, Uni and his sister, "When the day, gramps told us we had to leave, we asked why. Nepgear and I thought we might have flipped the bed on the wrong side or something but he told us that he was sending us off so we could find our own path. He said our incomplete training was a stepping stone for bigger. I didn't really know what he meant but the next thing we know, the morning after we woke up in the middle of the woods. He gave supplies, our weapons, a compass and a letter that says…um…" Neptune scratched his head, trying to remember.

"Did it say…'find your path to your destiny. Head southwest'?"

Neptune looked at her and said, "Yeah, the same with Nereus and Uni."

The villagers were almost done loading the cart with all the bodies. "When we found this place along with Nereus and Uni, we thought it was here that gramps asked us to go. When Nereus and Uni used what they were taught to get rid of some lizard men that caused trouble. And the village was attacked by a bunch of wild tulip monsters and pixelvaders, we all team up to defeat them. When I fought that time, I felt like that was why gramps taught us all those things; maybe to help people and fight monsters."

"So, you think that is why Mr. Old Man trained us? Do you think it had something to do with our amnesia?"

"Maybe."

"All right, that's the last one. Come on, let's head back." Hamilton ordered.

"Hey," Neptune gave her his smile which she found to really like. "We will figure it. But for now, let's just end chapter already."

Nereus, Nepgear and Uni came over and Nereus asked, "So, can you walk now?"

Neptune flexed his fingers and then tried to stand up. He stood up stiffly, "Hmm, kind of. I can feel things now in a few places." Neptune attempted to walk. He took an awkward step forward and wobbled a bit. "Yeah, ok, I think I can do this."

"Huh, well just in case, we will be right next to you."

Together, the five teenagers worked side by side along with the villagers back home.


End file.
